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KAFFIRS (Arabic Kafir, an unbeliever)
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See also:KAFFIRS (Arabic Kafir, an unbeliever) , a name given by the See also:Arabs to the native races of the See also:east See also:coast of See also:Africa. The See also:term was current along the east coast at the arrival of the Portuguese, and passed from them to the Dutch and See also:English, and to the natives themselves under the See also:form of Kafula. There are no See also:general or collective See also:national names for these peoples, and the various tribal divisions are mostly designated by See also:historical or legendary chiefs, founders of dynasties or hereditary chieftaincies. The term has no real ethnological value, for the Kaffirs have no national unity. To-See also:day it is used to describe that large See also:family of See also:Bantu negroes inhabiting the greater See also:part of the Cape, the whole of See also:Natal and See also:Zululand, and the Portuguese dominions on the east coast See also:south of the See also:Zambezi. The name is also loosely applied to any See also:negro inhabitant of South Africa. For example, the See also:Bechuana of the See also:Transvaal and See also:Orange See also:Free See also:State are usually called Kaffirs. The Kaffirs are divisible into two See also:great branches: the Ama-Zulu with the Ama-Swazi and Ama-See also:Tonga and the Kaffirs proper, represented by the Ama-Xosa, the See also:Tembu (q.v.) and the See also:Pondo (q.v.). Hence the See also:compound term Zulu-Kaffir applied in a collective sense to all the Kaffir peoples. Intermediate between these two branches were several broken tribes now collectively known as Ama-Fengu, i.e. " wanderers " or " needy " See also:people, from fenguza, to seek service'. (see See also:FINGO). The ramifications of the Kaffirs proper cannot be understood without reference to the national genealogies, most of the tribal names, as already stated, being those of real or reputed founders of dynasties. Thus the term Ama-Xosa means simply the " people of Xosa," a somewhat mythical See also:chief supposed to have flourished about the See also:year 1530. Ninth in descent from his son Toguh was Palo, who died about 1780, leaving two sons, Gcaleka and Rarabe (pronounced Kha-Kha-be), from whom came the Ama-Gcaleka, Ama-Dhlambe (T'slambies) and the Ama-Ngquika (Gaika or Sandili's people). The Pondo do not descend from Xosa, but probably from an See also:elder See also:brother, while the Tembu, though apparently representing a younger See also:branch, are regarded by all the Kaffir tribes as the royal See also:race. Hence the Gcaleka chief, who is the See also:head of all 1 The Ama-Fengu are regarded both by the Zulu and Ama-Xosa as slaves or out-castes, without any right to the privileges of true-See also:born Kaffirs. Any tribes which become broken and mixed would probably be regarded as Ama-Fengu by the other Kaffirs. Hence the multiplicity of clans, such as the Ama-Bele, See also:Aba-Sembotweni Ama-Zizi. Ama-Kuze, Aba-Sekunene, Ama-Ntokaze, Ama-Tetyeni Aba-Shwawa, &c., all of whom are collectively grouped as Ama-Fengu. the Ama-Xosa tribes, always takes his first or " great wife " from the Tembu royal family, and her issue alone have any claim to the See also:succession. The subjoined genealogical See also:tree will See also:place Kaffir relations in a clearer See also:light : — Zuide (1500?), reputed founder of the nation. f See also:Tern' bu. Xosa (1530?). Mpondo. I I Ama-Tembu Toguh. Ama-MI pondu- (Tambookies), Ama-MI ponda, Tembuland Palo (ob. 1780?), between See also:river See also:miss and Emigrant loth in descent Umtata and Tembuland. from Xosa. Natal.. Abelungu (dispersed?) I I Gcaleka. Rarabe (Khakhabe). Klanta. Hinza. Omlao. Mbalu. Ndhl, mbe Kreli. Nggika. Ama-Mbalus. Ama-Ndhlambes Ama-Gwali. or T'slambies, Ama-Gcaleka See also:Malmo Ama-Ntinde. between the (Galeka), I Ama-Gqunuk- Keiskamma and between the Tyali. webi. Great Kei See also:rivers. Bashee and Ama-Velelo. Umtata rivers. Sandili. Ama-Baxa. Imi-Dange. Ama-Ngqika Imi-Dushane. (Gaika), Amatola See also:highlands. Ama-Khakhabe. Ama-Xosa. It will be seen that, as representing the elder branch, the Gcaleka stand apart from the See also:rest of Xosa's descendants, whom they See also:group collectively as Ama- Rarabe (Ama-Khakhabe), and whose genealogies, except in the See also:case of the Gaikas and T'slambies, are very confused. The Ama-Xosa See also:country lies mainly between the Keiskama and Umtata rivers. The Zulu See also:call themselves Abantu ba-Kwa-Zulu, i.e. " people of Zulu's See also:land," or briefly Bakwa-Zulu, from a legendary chief Zulu, founder of the royal See also:dynasty. They were originally an obscure tribe occupying the See also:basin of the Umfolosi river, but See also:rose suddenly to See also:power under Chaka,1 who had been brought up among the neighbouring and powerful Umtetwas, and who succeeded the chiefs of that tribe and of his own in the beginning of the 19th See also:century. But the true See also:mother tribe seems to have been the See also:extinct Ama-Ntombela, whence the Ama-Tefulu, the U'ndwande, U'mlelas, U'mtetwas and many others, all absorbed or claiming to be true Zulus. But they are only so by See also:political subjection, and the See also:gradual See also:adoption of the Zulu See also:dress, usages and speech. Hence in most cases the term Zulu implies political rather than See also:blood relationship. This remark applies also to the followers of Mosilikatze (properly Umsilikazi), who, after a fierce struggle with the Bechuana, founded about 182o a second Zulu state about the head See also:waters of the Orange river. In 1837 most of them were driven northwards by the Boers and are now known as See also:Matabele. The origin of the Zulu-Kaffir race has given rise to much controversy. It is obvious that they are not the See also:aborigines of their See also:present domain, whence in comparatively See also:recent times—since the beginning of the 16th century—they have displaced the See also:Hottentots and See also:Bushmen of fundamentally distinct stock. They themselves are conscious of their See also:foreign origin. Yet
they are closely allied in speech (see BANTU See also:LANGUAGES) and
physique to the surrounding Basuto, Bechuana and other members of the great South See also:African See also:Negroid family. Hence their See also:appearance in the south-east corner of the See also:continent is sufficiently explained by the gradual onward See also:movement of the populations pressing southward on the Hottentot and Bushman domain. The specific See also:differences in speech and appearance by which they are distinguished from the other branches of the family must in the same way be explained by the altered conditions of their new See also:habitat. Hence it is that the farther they have penetrated southwards the farther have they become differentiated from the pure Negro type. Thus the light and clear See also: 11 in., and even 6 ft.' They are slim, well-proportioned and See also:muscular. Owing to the hard See also:life they See also:lead, the See also:women are generally inferior in appearance to the men, except amongst the Zulu, and especially the Tembu. Hence in the matrimonial See also:market, while the Ama-Xosa girl realizes no more than ten or twelve head of See also:cattle, the Tembu belle fetches as many as See also:forty, and if especially See also:fine even eighty. The more warlike tribes were usually arrayed in See also:leopard or ox skins, of See also:late years generally replaced by European blankets, with See also:feather head-dresses, See also:coral and See also:metal ornaments, See also:bead armlets and necklaces. The Makua and a few others practise See also:tattooing, and the Ama-Xosa are fond of See also:painting or smearing their bodies with red ochre. Their arms consist chiefly of ox-hide See also:shields 4 to 6 ft. long, the kerrie or See also:club, and the See also:assegai, of which there are two kinds, one long, with 9-in. narrow blade, for throwing, the other See also:short, with broad blade 12 to 18 in. long, for stabbing. The dwellings are See also:simple conical huts grouped in kraals or villages. Although cattle form their chief See also:wealth, and See also:hunting and stock-breeding their See also:main pursuits, many have turned to husbandry. The Zulu raise regular crops of " mealies " (See also:maize), and the Pondo cultivate a See also:species of See also:millet, See also:tobacco, See also:water melons, yams and other vegetables. See also:Milk (never taken fresh), millet and maize form the staples of See also:food, and See also:meat is seldom eaten except in See also:time of See also:war. A See also:young Kaffir attains See also:man's See also:estate socially, not at See also:puberty, but upon his See also:marriage. Polygyny is the See also:rule and each wife is regarded as adding dignity to the See also:household. Marriage is by See also:purchase, the See also:price being paid in cattle. Upon the See also:husband's See also:death family life 1s continued under the headship of the eldest son of the See also:house, the widows by virtue of See also:levirate becoming the See also:property of the See also:uncle or nearest See also:males, not sons. A son inherits and honourably liquidates, if he can, his See also:father's debts. Mentally the Kaffirs are See also:superior to the Negro. In their social and political relations they display great tact and intelligence; they are remarkably brave, warlike and hospitable, and were honest and truthful until through contact with the whites they became suspicious, revengeful and thievish, besides acquiring most European vices. Of See also:religion as ordinarily understood they have very little, and have certainly never See also:developed any mythologies or dogmatic systems. It is more than doubtful whether they had originally formed any notion of a Supreme Being. Some conception, however, of a future state is implied by a strongly developed See also:worship of ancestry, and by a belief in See also:spirits and ghosts to whom sacrifices are made. There are no idols or priests, but belief in See also:witchcraft formerly gave the " See also:witch-See also:doctor " or See also:medicine-man overwhelming power.' See also:Circumcision and polygyny are universal; the former is sometimes attributed to See also:Mahommedan influences, but has really prevailed almost everywhere in East Africa from the remotest time. Dearer than anything else to the Kaffir are his cattle; and many ceremonial observances in connexion with them were once the rule. Formerly ox-racing was a See also:common See also:sport, the oxen See also:running, riderless, over a .ten-mile course. The owner of a See also:champion racing ox was a popular See also:hero, and these racers were valued at hundreds of head of cattle. Cattle are the currency of the Kaffirs in their See also:wild state. Ten to twenty head are the price of a wife. When a girl marries, 2 P. Topinard, See also:Anthropology (1878), p. 274. This feature varies considerably, " in the T'slambie tribes being broader and more of the Negro shape than in the Gaika or Gcaleka, while among the Ama-Tembu and Ama-Mpondo it assumes more of the European See also:character. In many of them the perfect Grecian and See also:Roman noses are discernible " (See also:Fleming's See also:Kaffraria, p. 92). Gustav Fritsch gives the mean of the Ama-Xosa as 1.718 metres, less than that of the See also:Guinea Negro (1.724), but more than the English (1.708) and Scotch (1.710). ' Since the See also:early years of the 19th century See also:Protestant and Roman See also:Catholic See also:missions have gained hundreds of thousands of converts among the Kaffirs. Purely native See also:Christian churches have also been organized. her father (if well off) presents her with a cow from his See also:herd. This See also:animal is called ubulungu or " doer of See also:good " and is regarded as sacred. It must never be killed nor may its descendants, as long as it lives. A hair of its tail is tied See also:round the See also:neck of each See also:child immediately after See also:birth. In large kraals there is the " dancing-ox," usually of red colour. Its horns are trained to peculiar shapes by early mutilations. It figures in many ceremonies when it is paid a See also:kind of See also:knee-worship. The Kaffirs have three, not four, seasons: " See also:Green Heads," " Kindness " and " Cutting "; the first and last referring to the crops, the second to the " warm See also:weather." Women and See also:children only eat after the men are satisfied. A light See also:beer made from See also:sorghum is the national drink. Of the few See also:industries the chief are See also:copper and See also:iron smelting, practised by the Tembu, Zulu and Swazi, who manufacture weapons, spoons and agricultural implements both for their own use and for See also:trade. The Swazi display some See also:taste in See also:wood-See also:carving, and others prepare a peculiar water-tight See also:vessel of grass. Characteristic of this race is their neglect of the See also:art of See also:navigation. Not the smallest boats are ever made for See also:crossing the rivers, much less for venturing on the See also:sea, except by the Makazana of Delagoa See also:Bay and by the Zambezi people, who have canoes and See also:flat-bottomed boats made of planks. The Kaffir race had a distinct and apparently very old political See also:system, which may be described as a patriarchal See also:monarchy limited by a powerful See also:aristocracy. Under See also:British rule the tribal See also:independence of the Kaffirs has disappeared. Varying degrees of See also:autonomy have been granted, but the supreme See also:powers of the chiefs have gone, the Swazi being in 1904 the last to be brought to See also:order. In the Transkeian Territories tribal organization exists, but it is modified by See also:special legislation and the natives are under the See also:control of special magistrates. To a considerable extent in Natal and through-out Zululand the Kaffirs are placed in reserves, where tribal organization is kept up under European supervision. In Basuto-land the tribal organization is very strong, and the power of chiefs is upheld by the imperial See also:government, which exercises general supervision. See Gustav Fritsch, See also:Die Eingeborenen Sd dafrikas, with See also:atlas, 30 plates and 120 typical heads (See also:Breslau, 1872) ; W. H. I. Bleek, See also:Comparative See also:Grammar of the South African Languages (See also:London and Cape See also:Town, pt. i., 1862; pt. ii., 1869); Theo. See also:Hahn, Grundzuge einer Grammatik See also:des See also:Herero (See also:Berlin, 1857); Dr See also:Colenso, Grammar of the Zulu-Kafir See also:Language (1855) ; See also:Girard de Rialle, See also:Les Peuples de l'Afrique et de l'Amerique (See also:Paris, 1880); G. W. See also:Stow, The Native Races of South Africa (London, 1905); G. McC. Theal, See also:History and Ethnography of South Africa, 15os to 1795 (3 vols., London, 1907—1910) and History of South Africa since 1795 (5 vols., London, 1908), specially valuable for the political history of the Kaffirs; See also:Caesar C. Henkel, The Native or Transkeian Territories (See also:Hamburg, 1903); The Natives of South Africa (1901), and its sequel, The South African Natives (1908); See also:Dudley See also:Kidd, The Essential Kafir (1904) and Kafir See also:Socialism. The last four books See also:deal with the many social and economic questions raised by the contact of the Kaffir races with Europeans. 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